AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE

THIS aerial view of the Bardney festival site I was taken today by Echo chief photographer Ken James. As far as the eye could see there was a seething mass of people scuttling around in the rain," he said. In the foreground the area is filled with brightly-coloured tents of all shapes and sizes. The main stage is in the top centre of the picture, partially concealed by Tupholme Manor, beyond the trees. "From the air the one-way traffic system can be seen working really effectively. Everything is kept moving so that hold-ups are kept to a minimum,'' he said.

£150 FINES FOR DRUGS OFFENCES AT FESTIVAL

A SALES REPRESENTATIVE, asked to deliver a parcel "to a guy at the Bardney pop festival" was yesterday fined £150 by Lindsey (Lincoln) magistrates for being in possession of dangerous drugs. Alexander W a k e field (31), of 7 Clyde-road, Didshury, Manchester, pleaded guilty to being in possession Qf 33.796 grams of crude cannabis resin, and to a second charge of being in possession of 86 tablets of amphetamine sulphate. and 46 white tablets containing LSD. Chief-Insp. N. Coleman said that Wakefield was taken to the festival CID sub-control centre at Langleys Farm, Tupholme, where a tobacco tin was found in his pocket. Three separate packages found to contain Golden Lebanon cannabis, Dexadrine and LSD were in the tin. In a statement to the police, Wakefield said he had been approached in a pub in Manchester where he was given £10 to deliver the tin. He did not know the man who gave it to him, and all he knew was that at the festival he had to give the tin to a man inside a tent with a half-mast Union Jack flying above it. In court Wakefield said he went into the deal with his eyes closed and did not realise how serious the charge was. It was his first and last contact with drugs, he said. He was fined £75 on each charge.

SHANK'S PONY TO THE SITE   HUNDREDS of pop fans made the long 12mile walk from Lincoln to Tupholme yesterday as winds blowing up to 45-50 miles an hour howled around them. And to make matters worse rain showers hindered their progress. A number of disappointed fans told how they had made journeys from Scotland, Devon, London and Wales  only to find they had a long, long walk to get to the site where a fourday pop festival is being held. A law student from London, who made a visit to th_ famous Woodstock festival in America, told how he was picked up by a taxi cab ati Newark and was charged only 1-p for the trip into Lincoln. "The driver said he thought it was a good thing to do, but he suggested that the trip from Lincoln to Tupholme would cost people in the region of £2," he said.

Festival Fans Fight wind, rain in pop 'swamp'

THE MAMMOTH pop festival site, Tupholme, is a muddy marsh. There has been rain, cold and high winds. But nothing can stop the fans pouring in at the latest count 50,000 youngsters were either inside the site or near the entrance. And local police reported no major: problems or incidents: with the fans. By the time the day's music began, several hundred youngsters had been treated for exposure. This, dealt with by medical stain laid on by the festival organisers, was mainly due to the overnight storm which caused havoc for fans trying to erect tents arid makeshift sleeping accommodation. The high winds and torrential rain overniaht caused widespread damage and discomfort for thousands trying to camp at the site

TV screens

  Work went on throughout the night and into the morning to repair the damage to dormitory tents. When the first groups took to the stage, only a few backstage mishaps had to be cleared up for everything to return to normal. Dedicated fans braved the mud and cold by their thousands to cram the 50acre arena around the stage.! Closed circuit television projected on huge screens allowed thousands more to see the action.

Keep away

  Thousands more took the opportunity to organise temporary festival quarters on the 150 acres surrounding the arena and catch up on hard-earned sleep. Many had spent hours hitching the last few miles from Lincoln. Others had driven overnight and some had even come from abroad Australian singer, Helen Reddy, who is expecting baby, has been taken to hospital and will not be appearing tonight as scheduled. Motorists were warned today to keep away from the festival area unless their journeys are really necessary. The warning came from the Royal Automobile Club Nottingham, who are concerned for the safety of pop fans walking on narrow country roads, particularly after dark. "The festival is generates: a lot of extra traffic, with people from the Midlands and the Peterborough area taking people to the festival and then driving home," said a spokesman. He added: "Drivers should take extra care in the Bardney area because there are a lot of hitchhikers on the road, and someone could easily get knocked down."

 CITY OF POP SHIVERS INTO FESTIVAL MOOD

THOUSANDS of wind-torn youngsters shivered last night as Bardney popped into life, beginning four days of holiday music. And the biggest pop show that Lincolnshire has ever seen already in the shadow of bitter controversy that led to a High Court action was fighting to keep its feet in the face of a threat of bad weather.

SPIKED

  Weather was the problem that was on the mind of Barry Spikings, director of Great Western Festivals. "My only worry at the moment is the weather," said Mr. Spikings, as he listened in to one of the walkie-talkie sets being used by security and administrative staff to help with their patrolling duties.

STUDENTS

  The festival is a welcome break for many students preparing for examinations s o o n. Dave Yeates (20), of Bracebridge Heath, is one of them. He is working on the site: "It's a good chance to earn some cash as well as a break from studying," he said.

WAY OUT

  Ald. William Crowder   the man who tabled the: motion at Lindsey County Council to halt the Tupholme festival from going ahead will not be in his home village of Bardney while the four day concert is going on. Ald. Crowder has gone to trouble-torn Ireland for a holiday.

COMPLAINT

  With a varied menu, the fans are tucking into their meals. But they have one complaint   they feel the prices of 30p a meal are too high. One young man said: "I have brought £12 with me, which I have ~saved up from my Saturday morning job I think that at the end of the four-day festival it will be a bit of a struggle to get enough money together to buy a meal." The last few days have seen fierce gales lashing the Tupholme site where there has been a constant human stream of arrivals since earlier in the week. Organisers Great Western Festivals Ltd., have already said that the young people, more than 100,000 are expected, are on trial, as is the whole concept of open-air festivals because of the High Court decision which may land company directors actor Stanley Baker among them in jail for contempt of court if the festival causes a nuisance in the area. But this hardly worried most of the visitors yesterday, many struggling to keep tents standing in the wind. Thousands of pop fans had camped out overnight at the main entrance waiting to be let in on the site, but their wait had been extended because site preparation had been held up by wind damage.

FRANTIC

  As they sat and waited as much as eight hours before the first group was due to appear   technicians frantically worked to replace the huge plastic canopy above the specially erected stage. Said Tony Barrow: "They have been very good. When we let them in they could have swarmed u' to the stage but instead they stood where they were and have been very good about it. "Undoubtedly they are taking notice of the appeals both by Stanley Baker and of the notices we have posted around the site to keep cool." One American said that he had come up from London. He had spent the Winter traveling in the southern parts of the States "following the sun." He added: "It's really nice here, but I wish it was warmer. These events in America are really something."

PLEASED

  Actor Stanley Baker, staying on site in a Billy Smart 60-foot long caravan, is very pleased with the way things have been going on the opening day. He said: "I have still got great faith in every single person present on the site today, and all those who will be coming. I can't see anything going wrong, we have tried to cover every aspect needed for a festival of this size. "This festival has been on the drawing board for about eight months and-for every day since then it! has been a race against time. "It has all been worth while. Only one thing is the weather. hope it will be good, matter of fact, I think it will be quite sunny." Fans who have already arrived on the Bardney site and had established small camps in front of the stage were impressed by the atmosphere at the site. One of them was John Simpson (19), from London, who had arrived three days earlier with his girl friend, Judy.

IT'S NICE

  ."It was a bit difficult getting up here because we hitched and there were a lot of other people on the road, but since we have been here everything has been really nice. "We arrived here too late to get any food, but other people who were camping here helped us out until we got to the shops. There has been a really nice feeling of people trying to help each other. "When we got in it was a bit of a rush to the front of the stage, but there wasn't any sort of hustle like getting on tube trains. "I don't know what we would do if there was any trouble like from Hell's Angels it would just ruin everything." He said that they would probably stay on the site until Tuesday before starting back for London Some of ~he fans, although content to stay in front of the stage, are making efforts to find their way around the large site. They are asking people to look after their belongings, not because they might be taken, but because they might lose their ringside seats. The fans are viewing the many shops supplied on the site and some are buying Great Western Festival tee shirts to show their solidarity. Almost everyone on the site realises that this must be the Festival to end all Festivals. Bearing this in mind they are very content to sit and wait for their heroes to take the stage and let the show go on. Plain clothes policemen are mingling with the massive crowd in a bid to prevent drug peddling. Along with the police is a very large security force   employed~ to nip any trouble in the bud. Head of the security force is a former top Scotland Yard officer, ex - Chief - supt. Ray Dagg. The 235 security men under Mr. Dagg's command are largely stewards who have experience in dealing with pop festival~: ~The security forces are running regular patrols. both outside and inside the festival site, on the lookout for gatecrashers.

WALKIE TALKIES

All security groups are linked by walkie talkie sets to each other. the communications headquarters at Tupholme Hall, and patrolling helicopters hired especially for the festival. Said Mr. Dagg: "I have specially advised all my r n at a briefing that these kids are being asked to be on their best behaviour because future festivals depend on them. If there is trouble then the directors could have serious problems."

HELP ON HAND FOR FANS WITH HEALTH PROBLEMS

RELEASE a free legal and medical advice bureau for distraught pop fans   have six Lincoln solicitors on call for legal advice. The organisation, disappointed with facilities provided, have two tents on the site at Tupholme. One tent will deal with legal matters, and the other, called "The Trip Tent," will deal with youngsters who have committed drug abuse. Mr. Don Aithen, information officer for Release, said his own organisation has now been to seven festivals up and down the country. When asked about the arrangements for the Tupholme Festival, he said: "This is about average. If they can manage to get things going at least, five or six, hours after the proposed start everything will be running well." "Although we have had no drug casualties yet, we can expect some. At Bickershaw, Lancashire, we had 40 cases in a three-day event, where 30,000 people attended. "The way we deal with drug abuse patients is to psychologically talk them down. People in a drug abuse state are easily frightened and they build! up great mental fears. We just talk to them, and convince them the,- should be having a good time. "The main form of drug abuse comes from LSD. You get young people trying it for the first time, and they are un. able to handle it. We have six beds in the "Trip Tent" to look after such patients."

Women provide tea mugs and sympathy galore

COFFEE AND SYMPATHY are among the benefits groups of volunteer women are talking to Bardney. The sympathy is largely the province of the Church Army team. and the local sisters

CID men in hippy gear during festival

PLAIN CLOTHES DETECTIVES hunting for drug offenders were circulating among the fans on the site today but police denied they were searching people indiscriminately. The detectives, many in hippy style clothing, had not made any drug arrests on the site up to last night. A senior police spokesman said last night: "We have been searching people in connection with drug offenses. but we have not been doing this indiscriminately.

SEARCH

 "Where we have searched people it has only been when there has been some other reason to suspect them. He said that 28 people had been searched and eight charged with possessing drugs including one man alleged to have a massive lib. of cannabis in his possession. He added that the Release helpers were expecting to be kept very busy over the remainder of the Festival.

FESTIVE NOTES   WARNING    Festival organisers have issued a warning to the thousands of pop fans on the site. They have told them to keep out of any properties beyond the festival boundary fence. They explained there is a genuine and legitimate complaint for people whose livelihood depends on the land about the site. They said there is no need for the fans to wander off the site.   NO SWEAT    Even if twice as many pop fans than expected arrive at Tupholme, the organisers do not think that the facilities will be strained. Tony Barrow said: "We are expecting 50,000 to 70,000 but double that will not provide us with problems. "I certainly do not think that there is any likelihood of us having to shut the gates."   WET PLEA    An emergency appeal to provide dry clothing for the rain-drenched and wind-swept pop fans at the Bardney Festival was launched today by the Salvation Army. Lincoln members rushed out all their stocks of available clothing to the festival. Major Cyril Chadwick, Commanding Officer of the Highstreet Citadel, said: "During the night, the fans have had a rough deal with the winds and rain. We are at rock bottom with our emergency supplies, though we are sending out that we have avail   ON CALL    Members of the Women's Royal Voluntary Service near the site think their best role is to be "on call" if needed. Mrs. K. Miller, rural district central organiser, said: "If anything went wrong, we would open up the village hall, serve hot drinks and food and give out used clothing. We are always ready to turn out in this way in an emergency, but we would wait to be asked by the police. "They seem to have everything on the site for anticipated needs rest centres, nurses, cars ambulances, refreshments, and so on. We have to remember that there might be a real emergency somewhere else, and if we were trapped in the middle of that crowd, we would be unable to reach it."    Another group of local women will be helped by two student sisters from the Church Army Training College, Blackheath, South London. They are Student Sister Joy Wheeler, whose home is in Nottingham, and Student Sister Marian Hawkins, whose home is in Cambridge. Joy Wheeler said: "We were told that our work will be mainly with the people on drugs. A person coming out of a trip often just wants to talk and talk. We can offer them cc :_e,. and just be there if there is any problem they want to discuss. "We hope that people will come to us, but we will also circulate round the site and mix with people." Joy likes pop music and said: "We are very pleased to have been given the opportunity to come. I think it will be an experience, although I would not just have come as a pop fan."   Thirst quenchers   THE WATER QUEUE. Excitement may be one of the great assets of Pop Festivals, but there's still a thirst to quench. And at Bardney they have laid everything on but you've still got to leg it out to the tap to fill your can, and when that's been done you'll find a queue waiting. Perhaps that's half the fun.

Concert Guide

YOUR GUIDE to the stars over the rest of the holiday at Tupholme:

World-Wide Road for Bardney Fans

SOME visitors to Tupholme have traveled as far as 12,000 miles albeit indirectly to be a part of the four-day event.

 Flags of many nationalities were clearly visible, billowing in the wind, including an Australian flag perched on the top of the Abbey. Many of the fans arrived days early to pitch their tents in the space immediately adjacent to the entrance. A gale force wind swept across the tiny hamlet of Tupholme, bringing with it lashing rain, causing problems for campers. The visitors from abroad seemed to be well catered for, having driven to the site in transit vans and dormobiles.

AUSTRALIA

 Parties included those from Australia and the United States. Three Australians from Melbourne, in a well-equipped van, have been on the road since November, on a working holiday. It is their first visit to a festival, and to date they admitted to being pretty impressed. - "It will be all right when the groups start," conceded Allan Daldy. Asked about the question of trouble arising, Allan said: "I don't know if anyone will make trouble. You always get someone who is going to play up." They have brought along their own food, and arrived at the site two days ago. Another Australian, also from Melbourne, Leigh Morris, was traveling alone in his ,caravan when he met ~ p with the other Australian. He is also on a working holiday, and this is his first festival visit He expected that there would be some trouble.

ON THE ROAD

 Hitch - hiker Nick Wallwork set out from Queensland about six months ago. He met Allan's party in London and met them again when he arrived on the camping site. He has hiked through Kenya on a working holiday, although he commented that he had not yet done any work. He was also impressed with the set-up, saying that he had enough money to see him through the four days, but anticipated having to work in the near future. A party of six Americans from Seattle had driven through Spain and Germany before arriving in this country. They heard about the festival while they were in Oxford, and decided to travel up. Twenty two-year-old Mark Abad said he had been to festivals in the States, and admitted that they were run on similar lines. The main problem at all festivals, he said, was the weather conditions.

POP LOVE

 Nearer home, a group of seven festival lovers travelled up by train from Sheffield after leaving their home town in Barnsley last Wednesday. They have already been to several festivals, including those at Weeley and Biekershaw. Rob Sherrie, who is 18 and unemployed, said he understood why the organisers were making the appeal on the no nuisance angle. He said no such appeals were made at the other festivals, as festival-goers already appreciate this problem. He didn't anticipate any trouble arising here at Tupholme. The seven of them have plenty of money, and don't anticipate using the site facilities laid on. Andy Hort traveled up 150 miles by train from Sussex for the festival. He came-over to this country from New Zealand a couple of years ago and this is his first visit. Despite traveling by train, he found the coach price from Lincoln to the site "a bit expensive." Andy (17) is still at school.

Stones not here

EARLY TODAY Tony Barrow, head of Great Western Festival said: "As far as I am aware Jagger will definitely not be appearing. I understand he has flown out of the country. "As to the possibility of George Harrison or any other stars appearing it is impossible to say at this stage. "They are not booked. but if they do come they will just turn up on the day. We do not know."

...and Hell's Angels arrive

THE Hell's Angel's have come to the peaceful atmosphere of the Tupholme Pop festival. The groups are one faction from London, and another, The One Per Cents, from Manchester and there is already a hint of trouble over a security mix up. Rivalry started last week when the London based Angels came to the site for jobs as security men, not knowing the Manchester group had been offered jobs by stall owners. After talks with festival directors, the London group, headed by a man called Buttons, left the site under amicable terms. Later the Manchester group arrived on the scene, only to be told their services as hot dog security men were not needed. The festival directors paid the Manchester Chapter their traveling and ~ out - of - pocket expenses and asked for no trouble. This police notice, above, speaks for itself. At least traffic will be able to flow freely around the site. The set-up is such that the site has become a virtual e i g h t - mile roundabout.

Site Info

THE festival programme surprised many pop fans. Bigger and better than normal it supplies information on all the bands, plus a site map and more. As well as listing the order of appearance, it also gives facilities available, including medical, a message indicator and advice on transport and drinks.